An IoT Based Real Time Parking Management System

With the rise of India’s Economy, prosperity of Indians, on the whole, has been on a rise. This means that more people are able to afford more goods which were previously considered luxury. Personal vehicles are one such luxury. The number of vehicles on the road has outpaced the road infrastructure. This leads to congestion on the road and in parking lots. This leads to a lot of time wasted in finding a parking spot even when parking is available. This inadvertently leads to fuel wastage and consequently also increases air pollution. A solution to this problem is to create a Parking Management System which helps motorists to find parking spaces in a congested parking lot. This system works by giving drivers the real time visualization of the occupancy of the parking lot. The system is equipped with ultrasonic sensors to check the status of parking spaces. They are controlled by a NodeMCU. The NodeMCU (Node Micro Controller Unit) is an open-source software and hardware development environment built around an inexpensive System-on-a-Chip (SoC) called the ESP8266. The Espressif Systems-designed and -produced ESP8266 has all of the essential components of a computer, including CPU, RAM, networking (Wi-Fi), and even a contemporary operating system and SDK. This makes it a fantastic option for all types of Internet of Things (IoT) projects. A NodeMCU can be connected to maximum 5 parking spots with the sensor assembly. This Parking Management System can solve one of the core issues related with vehicle management from an Urban Design perspective. By reducing the time required for drivers to find a parking, a lot of inefficiency associated with car use is eliminated.